Chelsea will face Watford at the Vicarage Road in their second Premier League game under Antonio Conte‘s management today.

TEAM NEWS

Watford

Watford manager Walter Mazzarri had to face Ben Watson‘s red card in his Premier League opener against Southampton and will have to make some decision given that also Hornets‘ new signing Isaac Success won’t be fit for the game due to a leg muscle injury.

Troy Deeney alongside Odion Ighalo will likely play together as they did in their first game of the season.

Also Brice Dja Djédjé is not expected to make his debut at Vicarage Road could be left out of the starting lineup to face Chelsea.

Chelsea

Chelsea have the majority of their squad available for this fixture with Cesc Fabregas who is expected to be left out of the Blues’ starting XI again. N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic will likely play in the midfield besides Hazard, Oscar and Willian.

The lineup will reportedly be the same of the Premier League opener against West Ham.

Defender Kurt Zouma and midfielder Marco Van Ginkel are still recovering from injuries and are not expected to be selected in the squad for the game, alongside with Nigeria international John Obi Mikel, who is currently playing with his national team at the Olympic Games in Brazil and won’t be able to feature today.

Antonio Conte previewed the game against Watford speaking to media in Cobham today.

The Italian manager wanted to send a message to his players:

“Tomorrow will be a good game for my players: we know it won’t be easy because Watford are a strong team with good players. The two strikers play together very well and we must pay attention because it’s a dangerous game.

“We need to send the right message for our confidence. It’s important to face this game with the right intensity, right concentration and be very focused.”

Chelsea are facing Watford tomorrow and the game will be also the first Italian managers derby of this Premier League, where four Italian coaches are in charge: Antonio Conte at Chelsea, Claudio Ranieri at Leicester City, Francesco Guidolin at Swansea and Walter Mazzarri at Watford.

Conte and Mazzarri are familiar with each other having competed for trophies during their respective spells as managers of Juventus and Napoli.

“I saw him in the meeting for managers and I spoke with him and his assistant coach about this experience because it’s also a great challenge for him,” Conte revealed during his press conference to preview the match today.

“When we were in the Italian championship and we fought for the title, Juventus versus Napoli, everyone fights for his club, but our relationship is very normal. I have great respect for him and his work, he’s a great manager.

“Every manager has their own idea of football so for this reason every manager is different, not only me and Mazzarri. Every coach brings his idea of football, I studied for my own ideas and other managers studied for their own ideas.

“I will shake his hand, no problem. But I repeat: I saw him at the coaches’ meeting and spoke with him, with the assistant coach too.”

During the press conference to preview Watford’s game today, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte was asked to comment Diego Costa‘s attitude on the pitch: the Spanish striker scored a late winner against West Ham last Monday also risked a red card after a dangerous challenge on Hammers’ goalkeeper Adrian:

“We all know Diego and he is a passionate footballer,” Conte explained

“Sometimes it seems he’s always on the edge when he plays but he’s a good guy and a good player.

“He puts his passion into football when he plays. I’m happy with his attitude and behaviour. We know he must pay attention in all situations because sometimes when many people talk about one player its difficult for him to play in a relaxed way as he knows he’s always at the centre of attention.”

Watford are keen on signing youngster Kenedy from Chelsea on a two season-long loan, according to WDSport.

The 20-year-old is not expected to play a key role in the Blues’ starting XI this season and Antonio Conte has reportedly told the Brazilian star he wants to let him move on loan.

Kenedy told FourFourTwo.com: ”I’m happy with my own performances so far in England,”

“I mean, it’s my first season in the Premier League and it’s not easy to adapt to the best football in the world. But I’m aware that I have plenty of room to improve and I’ll be better next season for sure.”

Then he added: “I want to play. I don’t really care if I’m playing as a full-back or a forward. As long as I’m on the pitch.”

Kenedy could follow in the footsteps of Chelsea loanee Natham Aké, whohas played for the Hornets last season on loan before joining Bournemouth this summer.

AFCBournemouth have signed Chelsea youngster Nathan Ake on a season-long loan deal.

Ake joined Chelsea from Feyenoord in 2010 when he was just 15-years-old. Since then he has spent most of his time on loan away from StamfordBridge. He spent some time at Reading where he made a few appearances but mostly he was with Watford, where he appeared 32 times, 24 of those were in the PremierLeague.

Bournemouth chief executive NeillBlake spoke to AFCB.co.uk.

“We are delighted to welcome Nathan to AFC Bournemouth, For a player of his age he already has great experience in the Premier League and we believe he will bring a lot to our squad.

“He is an international player with great pedigree, so we are really excited to have him join us for the upcoming season.”

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